The Pacific profiles series shines a light on Pacific people in Aotearoa doing interesting and important work in their communities, as nominated by members of the public. Today, Dinah Otukolo and Dianne Wihoni, two Southside Aiga Midwives.

All photos by Geoffery Matautia.

Tucked away at the edges of the Māngere town centre is the Ngā Hau Māngere Birthing Centre. There, the Southside Aiga Midwives create a warm, nurturing environment – a comfortable sanctuary for new parents. The first baby born there was in May 2019, and parents ever since have felt supported, respected and cherished there. We spoke to two of Ngā Hau’s five midwives, Dinah Otukolo (Tonga) and Dianne Wihoni (Te Rarawa), who are both passionate about offering whānau a safe, nurturing and holistic birthing experience outside of a hospital ward. 

What is Ngā Hau and who are the Southside Aiga midwives?

Dinah: Ngā Hau is a primary birthing centre. We’re not a hospital. We started as two different midwife groups, Southside Midwives – which was me and Dianne – and then the Aiga Midwives joined us when Dianne took time off. We’ve been going for three years and there are five of us here now. 

Why did you both go into midwifery?

Dinah: I saw my first birth at 15, it was my niece, and I wanted to be a midwife from that day. Being in that room and sharing that space with someone is such a beauty and an honour. I tried to become one straight out of school but I was told to go away and get some life experience. I had children and then decided that, yes, this is what I want to do. I came back to New Zealand from Australia and studied midwifery. This is a service that I feel I am called to do. It’s why I’m here. Whatever service I can bring to my community, that’s what makes me happy. 

Dianne: Since high school, I wanted to be a midwife, but no one in our whānau had gone to uni.  I left school at 16 and worked at a chartered accountant firm, and then I had two kids. Finally, I said, “Nope, enough of this, I’m going to uni to study midwifery”. I’m the first in my whānau to go to university and become a midwife.

Most people probably have a very limited idea of the scope of midwifery. It’s more than just delivering babies. How would you both describe your roles?

Dianne: Advocacy is a big thing. We want to support women to have choices. 

Dinah: We are counsellors, we are social workers, we are a lot of things to a lot of different people at different times, but really what we’re doing is trying to empower women and make them know what’s available to them. They don’t have to just accept whatever anybody tells them that they need to do, they have a choice, they can ask questions, and they have that right.

I think that’s really important, especially in our [Māori and Pacific] communities because we tend to accept what a person in authority says to us, especially our elders. I would like to think that we are having a real positive impact on those women who walk away thinking, “Wow, I didn’t know birthing could be like that.”

What gaps does Ngā Hau fill in the health sector, especially for Maori and Pacific women giving birth?

Dinah: The hospital is a necessary place. But for the women in this area, to have only Middlemore as your primary birthing unit, it just seems incredibly wrong. Only 45% of whānau in South Auckland have an LMC midwife (lead maternity carer), and we have such big birthing populations. What Ngā Hau has enabled women in this area to do is experience a whole different type of care. We have mums that come through with their daughters who are like, “Oh my gosh, I did not know that you could give birth in an environment like this.” It’s such an important place, and to think that we’ve been fighting for such a long time to try and keep it open, it really breaks my heart.

Dianne: There are always tears, there are happy tears welcoming a new pēpē, but we see tears for healing, too. The mums, the grandmothers, are sitting there going, “Is this what it could have been like for us?” They’re like, “Wow, we got told you have to do this, you have to do that, and we felt really out of control.” That side of it has been empowering for us.

What are some of the things specifically that are offered here that you might not otherwise get at a general hospital? 

Dianne: The freedom to move through labour. We know that the worst place to labour is flat on your back because you’re experiencing so much pain and pressure on your spine. So even the fact that here they can walk around freely in a quiet, calm environment, women just feel safer. They can just get into their zone and there’s not a team of five doctors and midwives coming in just to introduce themselves partway through a contraction. It’s just so different. Dinah and I worked together for years over at Middlemore and we used to see women leaving broken. Here it’s totally the opposite; they’re coming in and they’re bouncing out the doors with big smiles. 

Dinah: The rooms are set up so that you can have your support person. It’s really important for some of the dads who have missed out because their significant others have had to stay up at the hospital for a couple of nights. Here they get to stay and share that whole experience with them.

Ngā Hau came to a lot of people’s attention, including mine, in your recent campaign to save this facility. What’s happening with the funding for this space?

Dinah: They’re fine-tuning things at the moment. There’s funding on the table, but nothing’s been signed yet. There’s been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing about the contracts.

Do you receive government funding? Do you want to?

Dinah: That’s what we’re trying to do. The Wright Family Foundation have kindly been bankrolling this place since its inception, but they can’t do it indefinitely. We’re in the process of trying to get government funding. We’re hitting all of the targets. We’ve got massive numbers of predominantly Māori and Pasifika women. We were already underfunded before, but the sector’s in an even darker place with funding being withdrawn left, right and centre. But some things still have to be funded. And one of these things is this place.

What’s at stake for the community if Ngā Hau were to go?

Dinah: We’ve thought about it. It would be massive. It would have a huge impact on the women in this community. We’re talking about hundreds of women who come here every single year to have their babies. And we’re offering a unique model of care. 

Dianne: We’ve allowed ourselves to think about what that would mean, and it was just too dark. When we think about the births that we have attended and what it’s meant for the families; less postnatal depression, less postpartum haemorrhage, and babies being born in better conditions, all of the health outcomes speak for themselves. But then we’ve got the other stuff that you can’t measure. That’s the cultural aspect and the safety side of it. It’s different when you’re working with midwives who reflect and understand your family dynamics. We get it. And that’s made a huge difference for our community. Because most midwives are non-Pasifika, non-Māori. That’s been a point of difference for our clients as well.

How can the public continue to support Ngā Hau?

Dinah: Sharing their stories. It’s really important that people know we’re here and it’s not forgotten. Those stories help to change perceptions. 

What do you both see as the future for Ngā Hau?

Dinah: We want to be a part of it. I want this to be a bustling hub, a centre where people can come in and find whatever they need. Anti-natal classes. Pregnancy testing. Breastfeeding clinics. Immunisations. A really good one-stop shop for our community. 

Dianne: I want it to be the first thing on people’s minds. “I’m pregnant, I wanna go to Ngā Hau!” We live and breathe this place. We’re very fortunate to have families backing us and how passionate we are. We never take it for granted.

This is Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air.